


Those Forgotten, Those Left Behind

by SoDoLaFaMiDoRe



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Character Death, Character Study, Gen, Honestly I have feelings about the movie, Post-Movie, Slice of Life, and how they handled certain scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 01:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16651303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoDoLaFaMiDoRe/pseuds/SoDoLaFaMiDoRe
Summary: Just because Carlton Drake is gone doesn't mean his actions had no consequences. Eddie does some digging on a friend.





	Those Forgotten, Those Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> First off I would like to thank my lovely beta Calzone on the Venom discord for being my beta, you've really helped bring this story to life!
> 
> Also I hope you all enjoy!

It had started out as a normal night. Eddie had been relaxing in front of the computer, scrolling through articles, when an email notification popped up. It was from his old boss, asking once again if he was willing to consider having the  _ Eddie Brock Report _ come back. He shut the lid, sighing as he stared at the wall. He wasn’t sure he wanted to do the  _ Brock Report _ again, no matter how much good it had done for San Francisco. Venom stirred in his mind, regarding Eddie’s roiling emotions with curiosity.

 

“I’m gonna go for a walk,” he said aloud to the seemingly-empty room.

 

**Eddie, are you okay?** The night air was cool against his face, and he took a deep breath as he marched a familiar route. It was a slow walk to the row of convenience stores where Mrs. Chen’s sat. As he walked past Maria’s former haunt, he couldn’t help but think back to the lab, that night his life was changed forever. 

 

She had looked so small and scared in there. Eddie had been scared too, worried for her as he had attempted to save her. He’d failed, of course, watching her lifeless body slip to the side as he had to abandon her. Venom watched his memories flick by, attempting to comfort Eddie as his mind sunk into a dark place. Her cardboard and blankets had been cleaned, the sidewalk swept as if she had never existed at all.

 

His shoulders shook as he stalked off, careful not to slam open the door to Mrs. Chen’s even though he was stuck in his own mind. “Evening, Mrs. Chen,” he greeted, still polite even as his chest was twisting and writing. Venom grew in his noodle form from Eddie’s shoulder, holding a small conversation with Mrs. Chen in Mandarin as Eddie grabbed a protein shake, a few bars of chocolate, and some black pepper, as he was running low. Venom hung out on his shoulder as he walked over to Mrs. Chen’s counter.

 

“Is something bothering you, Eddie?” she questioned, ringing up his total.

 

“Just thinking about everything,” he stated, with a vague gesture towards Venom. She nodded at that, still uneasy towards the alien. He gave her the money, and she handed back the change along with a Hershey’s Kiss for Venom. Venom smiled at that, thanking her as they left. Eddie had a burning feeling in his skin, the kind he got when he knew there was a lead he needed to follow.

 

\----

 

Getting the records from the shattered remains of the Life Foundation had been tough, but Eddie was nothing if not persistent. Venom had helped him, sharing bits of information such as Maria’s last name and the town she’d grown up in. Eddie, while grateful for the shared memories, had explained to Venom that those were Maria’s and he’d rather respect her privacy.

 

**You clearly cared a lot about her.** Venom stated plainly, reading Eddie’s emotions as he sorted through paperwork. The bodies of the victims of the Life Foundation had been cremated and thrown out with the trash, which made Eddie angry enough he punched a hole in his bathroom door when he read it. Maria, Isaac, and the others had been tossed away as if they meant nothing.

 

“She was a person, Venom. Same as anyone else,” Eddie finally responded, teeth grit. A more vindictive part of him was glad Drake died in the rocket explosion, but it still felt like too good of a death for the scumbag. “A lot of people in this city are overlooked and forgotten, but that doesn’t mean they stop being human.” He’d been one of those invisible people, or felt like one when his life imploded. Anne, no matter how angry she was, hadn’t kicked him out to be homeless. But she made it clear he was no longer welcome and he respected her enough to not push her. That, and the fact she was probably going to murder him if he didn’t make himself scarce fast.

 

His meager savings barely got him his crappy apartment, and he couldn’t stop his drinking to cope with how crap he felt. Venom knew this about him, and they were working through it, but when he met Venom he was at one of the lowest points of his life. He’d met Maria back when he was still Eddie Brock, Famous Reporter. He’d been covering the lack of beds at the city’s shelters, and exactly how this affected the health of those living in the streets.

 

Maria had been cagey about her past, stating she wasn’t from San Francisco at first, and Eddie refused to push her when she already slept on a piece of cardboard.  **She came from Indiana** , Venom supplied.  **She wanted to be a singer and thought the West Coast would give her more opportunities.** Eddie nodded at that. He’d heard her sing before, but had never attempted to dangle money and force her to debase herself to eat.  **Her parents weren’t supportive of her, especially considering she was never accepted where she lived. She hasn’t spoken to them since she left.**

 

“Do you have their names?” Eddie wasn’t willing to dig through her memories, shared by Venom, but if her parents were still alive he hoped he could reach out to them. It may have been thirty years, but he worked enough missing persons cases to know you never really quite stopped wondering where the other person went. Venom was fond as he read the thought running through Eddie’s head.

 

**You don’t even know her parents and you’re already wondering how they are. That’s what initially made me bond to you,** Venom admitted, as Eddie got up to make themselves some tater tots as a late night treat.  **You cared where others did not. Maria went through a lot in her life; she spent her entire adulthood on and off the streets. You were a source of safety and normalcy for her. You saw her humanity where everyone else ignored her. Even in the Life Foundation, she knew you would protect her. She saw all your flaws and yet still knew you would do anything to help someone else.**

 

Eddie thought back to that moment. She’d been choking the life out of him, scared out of her wits, and he tried so hard not to hurt her. He still felt terrible abandoning her alone in the Life Foundation as he fled, terrified of what was inside him. “I left her,” Eddie whispered as the toaster oven dinged. Venom trailed a comforting tendril across his shoulders, pressing warmly into his skin.

 

**She was already dead, Eddie. She was dead the moment the Life Foundation made her my host. We weren’t compatible and I was killing her to live.** Eddie knew that, deep down, but the knowledge still stung, that his love had killed his friend. He didn’t blame Venom—the symbiote was doing what it needed to do to survive, consequences be damned.  **I didn’t want to kill her, but we wouldn’t have survived much longer as host and symbiote anyway.**

 

Eddie exhaled slowly, anger forming in his stomach. Maria had died a painful, meaningless death because Carlton Drake wanted to have control of everything. Carlton Drake wanted to push science without ethics. Carlton Drake considered there to be a natural hierarchy that put people like him at the top and everyone else at the bottom. 

 

He had worked hard as a reporter to expose the ills of San Francisco, the injustice and inequality that ran through the city. If he was going to go back to his old job, he needed to make sure he wasn’t cut off from the ability to go back to his old work. He wasn’t going to come back as a weatherman or a desk reader. He had a burning need to continue what he was doing, to protect those who hadn’t been able to protect themselves, like Maria.

 

“I think I’ll agree to go back to the agency, as long as they do something for me first.” Eddie had been toying with it, learning more about Maria and the other victims of the Life Foundation. They had been glossed over by the media, which focused more on the dark side of Carlton Drake and his death at the hands of the mysterious Venom. Eddie felt that they needed to highlight those who had lost their lives to Carlton Drake’s obsessions with pushing the boundaries of science. 

 

Grabbing his laptop, he pulled up his cloud storage, opening a new folder. It would take a lot of digging, but he knew what he needed to do to honor the victims of the Life Foundation and the symbiotes. It felt like a way to atone, to give some dignity in death to those who had been denied it in life.

 

_ The Hidden Victims of the Life Foundation: Obituaries Of Lives Lost _

 

It was going to be tough, but Eddie knew it needed to be done. Someone had to remember the forgotten in San Francisco.

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank my sister for bouncing this idea with me, and also my local church's midnight runs. This is a complex issue with a lot of sides but we need to remember that everyone is human here, and we can't let people slip through the cracks.


End file.
